The Building of the Panama Canal
Under American jurisdiction, a population of 54,325 workers to build the panama canal. in the heart of a wilderness two thousand miles from the base of supplies. In this population are included forty nationalities, ranging from Austrians to Canadians, from Chilians to Chinese, from Jamaicans to Scandinavians . Of the total number of residents, nearly 20,000 are fed at Government mess tents and hotels, making a monthly average of one million meals which Uncle Sam must serve! To meet the diversified t astes of the patrons, literally a world restaurant must be maintained—in the tropical underbrush. From the ten-cent rations of the West Indian negro and the twelve-and-a-half-cent meal of the European laborer, the scale ranges upward to the thirty-cent menu of the Government hotel—and not one pound of the tons of provisions consumed is obtained from the Isthmus itself. A transportation problem of ...